Fire destroys home on Toledano, damages buildings nearby

Next up in 5

Example video title will go here for this video

NEW ORLEANS —

The New Orleans Fire Department received the call a little before 5 p.m. When firefighters got to the 3100 block of Toledano Street, the front of a home was already engulfed in flames and creating heavy smoke. The NOFD says they rescued one person, Gerald Hunter, from the home next door, which had visible fire and water damage.

“I was sleeping and everybody was beating on that door,” Hunter told WWL-TV, holding his two small dogs in his arms. He was not seriously hurt but was coughing from the smoke due to a pre-existing lung condition.

The house that burned down was empty at the time, and according to Hunter, abandoned. But he says he saw people going in and out often and had reported it to the city in the past. “We called the 311 number, City Hall and all that stuff and asked them to get the people out, and they could do so much but they ain’t never,” he said.

In front of the house, a leak from a gas pipe shot a column of flames straight into the air, which continued to burn long after the rest of the fire had been put out. Several power lines also exploded into sparks on the ground as fire crews worked. NOFD Public Information Officer Michael Williams called it “a really dangerous situation.”

He added that Saturday’s extreme heat created another hazard. Feels-like temperatures reached the triple digits in New Orleans that evening. “The heat, and the humidity, and don’t talk about going into a burning building,” said Williams. “That’s just pushing them to their limits.” He said extra crews were called in so they could give each other a chance to rest.

No serious injuries were reported among either residents or firefighters. NOFD has not released any potential causes of the fire.

Click here to report a typo.

► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.

A fire burned a Central City home to the ground Saturday evening and damaged two others. Extreme heat, downed power lines, and a gas leak made conditions especially dangerous for firefighters and nearby residents. The New Orleans Fire Department received the call a little before 5 p.m. When firefighters got to the 3100 block of Toledano Street, the front of a home was already engulfed in flames and creating heavy smoke. The NOFD says they rescued one person, Gerald Hunter, from the home next door, which had visible fire and water damage. “I was sleeping and everybody was beating on that door,” Hunter told WWL-TV, holding his two small dogs in his arms. He was not seriously hurt but was coughing from the smoke due to a pre-existing lung condition. The house that burned down was empty at the time, and according to Hunter, abandoned. But he says he saw people going in and out often and had reported it to the city in the past. “We called the 311 number, City Hall and all that stuff and asked them to get the people out, and they could do so much but they ain’t never,” he said.In front of the house, a leak from a gas pipe shot a column of flames straight into the air, which continued to burn long after the rest of the fire had been put out. Several power lines also exploded into sparks on the ground as fire crews worked. NOFD Public Information Officer Michael Williams called it “a really dangerous situation.”He added that Saturday’s extreme heat created another hazard. Feels-like temperatures reached the triple digits in New Orleans that evening. “The heat, and the humidity, and don’t talk about going into a burning building,” said Williams. “That’s just pushing them to their limits.” He said extra crews were called in so they could give each other a chance to rest.